As radio frequency identification (RFID) technology has become more advanced, more complexity is being incorporated into communications exchanges between RFID readers and RFID tags. In the communications protocol specified in industry standard ISO-18000-6(c), after an RFID reader polls an RFID tag and after the reader receives a response from the tag, the RFID reader must transmit a command back to the tag within a defined time period. Since the response received from the tag is generally processed through a digital signal processor (DSP) in the reader before it can be interpreted, and since the command is generally processed through a DSP in the reader before it is actually transmitted, these processing latencies add to the turnaround time that the RFID tag experiences between transmitting the response and receiving the command. In addition, a framesync symbol must be transmitted at the beginning of the command, further reducing the available defined time period. In an environment with many RFID tags, the cumulative effect of these delays can reduce overall system throughput, and may cause some of the communications exchanges to fail because of time-out issues.